Of Santa Cruz Island, California
Bull. Southern California Acad. Sei. 99(1), 2000, pp. 25-31 © Southern California Academy of Sciences, 2000 Ants (Hymenoptera: Formiddae) of Santa Cruz Island, California James K. Wetterer', Philip S. Ward^, Andrea L. Weiterer', John T. Longino^, James C. Träger^ and Scott E. Miller' ^Center for Environmental Research and Conservation, 1200 Amsterdam Ave., Columbia University, New York, New York 10027 ^Department of Entomology, University of California, Davis, California 95616 ^The Evergreen State College, Olympia, Washington 98505 '^Shaw Arboretum, P.O. Box 38, Gray Summit, Missouri 63039 ^International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology, Box 30772, Nairobi, Kenya and National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20560 Abstract.•^We conducted ant surveys on Santa Cruz Island, the largest of the CaUfomia Channel Islands, in 1975/6, 1984, 1993, and 1998. Our surveys yielded a combined total of 34 different ant species: Brachymyrmex cf. depilis, Campon- otus anthrax, C. clarithorax, C. hyatti, C. semitestaceus, C. vicinus, C. sp. near vicinus, C yogi, Cardiocondyla ectopia, Crematogaster califomica, C héspera, C. marioni, C. mormonum, Dorymyrmex bicolor, D. insanus (s.l.), Formica la- sioides, F. moki, Hypoponera opacior, Leptothorax andrei, L. nevadensis, Line- pithema humile, Messor chamberlini, Monomorium ergatogyna, Pheidole califor- nica, P. hyatti, Pogonomyrmex subdentatus, Polyergus sp., Prenolepis imparis, Pseudomyrmex apache, Solenopsis molesta (s.l.), Stenamma diecki, S. snellingi, S. cf. diecki, and Tapinoma sessile. The ant species form a substantial subset of the mainland California ant fauna. "We found only two ant species that are not native to North America, C ectopia and L. humile. Linepithema humile, the Ar- gentine ant, is a destructive tramp ant that poses a serious threat to native ants.
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